In Greece, it is a very Greek thing to do to sit and chat, and that is what I was doing all afternoon and evening whilst eating and having a beer or two whilst sat outside Little Tree, a bohemian bookshop cum coffee shop, a stone’s throw below The Acropolis.
We were talking about the destruction of Greece by the EU and turning Greece into a debtor’s prison, the money that flowed into Greece and straight back out to bail out French and German banks, the destruction of Greece to set an example to other vassal states that may think to challenge Greece.
The talk turned to AirBnB, money laundering, dirty Russian and Turkish and Chinese money being laundered to buy up whole neighbourhoods on the cheap, people being kicked out of their apartments, rents then being forced up.
In Kolonaki and Acroploli, the area is being emptied of local people.
Anther problem which is prevalent in Barcelona and Amsterdam, neighbourhoods being turned into ghettos by bad tourists, apartments blocks, strangers wandering through.
The people I was conversing with had direct experiences, of drunk tourists, noise, threats of violence.
Lack of planning, tax avoidance, no insurance, local taxes not paid.
When apartment blocks are being bought it exposes the myth of renting out a spare room to travellers, of renting out the house when away from home for a few weeks.
FairBnB is to run four pilot projects in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bologna, and Venice. Initially a coop, it will hopefully be turned into an open coop.
Athens needs to be included, making five cities in the initial pilot.
Overtourism is hitting Athems. The main problem the cruise ships, floating all-inclusive hotels.
When a cruise shop docks, the streets are clogged with the passengers, they provide little if any benefit to the local economy, the tour buses add to the problem.
Keithpp's Blog 